Life Alternate

Don’t throw away your batteries just yet. But on developments at the Imperial College in the United Kingdom might see us all with portable products that do not need batteries in the future.

The Brits are working on lightweight materials that can store electricity, but you may be asking is that just a battery. In a sense it is still a battery but a one that can have extra properties. Their idea here is for casings and housing to be made of this carbon fibre material that can doubly act as a power storage medium.

The polymer resin could be moulded in to casings for portable products like mobile phones and mp3 players allowing them to be smaller and lighter as there are no internal batteries needed.

On a larger scale maybe cars and trucks could be made partly from this material reducing the overall weight and thus needing less energy to power the vehicle. Combining this with other interesting developments in solar generating casings and you have quite a brilliant concept. Throw out the batteries and have your portable device casings generate and store the power need to operate your devices.

The State of California is to double the cap on solar energy production by net metering.  Currently set at 2.5% of the states peak energy needs this will be raised to 5% if the bill finally becomes law.
The net metering policy will allow small solar energy producers, including home owners, to sell more of their [...]

The range of solar gadgets coming on to the market never seem to end and this design stands out a little bit. A water bottle that also doubles as a lantern to light your way.
The LightCap 300 combines ideas is something we love, dual use gadgets combining elements of great ideas in to one practical [...]

Ever wanted a radio that never runs out of batteries or a flashlight that will always give you a shine. The design here from Mitaki Japan combines both these in one unit.
Windup or Clockwork just like those old clocks and watches is making its way in to electronic goods. This radio or is it a [...]

Golfers spending time on the courses are always thinking Green, the Putting Green. Fortunately unknowingly they may also be driving around the links while being environmentally green in a Solar Powered Golf Cart.
Electric vehicles are going to be more common whizzing quietly down our streets in this decade. On the Golf course they have been [...]

The year 2010 could just be the year the Light Emitting Diode (LED) Light bulb comes of age.
LED Lighting has been slowly progressing through our town and homes slowly replacing the inefficient incandescent light bulbs that were invented so long ago by a Mr Joseph Swan. Not the name you thought, well history does not [...]

Panasonic have revealed snippets of information about their Lithium-Ion storage device which will be suitable for domestic use.
Clean Energy production in the home is dynamic and for the home user the need for storage devices for that excess electricity has been a problem. Large banks of lead-acid batteries can be costly and take up too [...]

Out in the Pacific Ocean exist the tiny nation of Tuvalu. It’s 11,000 population live on nice coral islands scattered across and area of 1/2 million square miles. Tuvalu may also be the first nation in modern times to become geographically non-existent.

Image: moyak.com
Climate change, Global Warming or just natural events – Whatever you may want [...]

Still stuck for that idea of a last minute environmentally friend gift. A Solar Powered Digital window thermometer could just be ideal to help you decide what to wear in the mornings.
No installation here, the digital thermometer just sticks on your window and happily juices itself up from the sunlight. While the sun shines [...]

Military operating from remote locations for extended periods of time need supplies. Without regular deliveries of food, fuel and other needed necessities, like candy bars, the unit may grind to a halt.
The US Marines have come up with a partial solution to on of those problems and that is the need for electrical energy.  Known [...]